Mr. Fan Dezhen's Body Cremated Against His Family's Wishes

2008-05-16

Falun Gong practitioner, Mr. Fan Dezhen, 33, was arrested and brutally beaten several times because he practised Falun Gong and believed in "Truthfulness, Compassion, Tolerance." On April 20th, 2008, at approximately 7:50 a.m., he was tortured to death at the Suizhong County Detention Centre in Liaoning Province. It wasn't until about 7:00 p.m. that his family was notified of his death by the the detention centre administration.

Mr. Fan's family wanted to know the cause of his death. Wang Xueping (male), director of the Suizhong Detention Centre, said that Mr. Fan's death was a result of malnutrition. Mr. Fan's family did not believe this because Mr. Fan's mother-in-law had gone to the detention centre on April 14th, 2008, and deposited money for his keep. She asked the director how her son-in-law was, and Wang replied saying that Mr. Fan ate two bowls of food per day and seemed energetic.

The day after Mr. Fan's death, his family requested to see his remains. The guards from the detention centre told the family that they would be allowed to view his body that night, but they also threatened that they would perform an autopsy and the body would be cremated whether the family saw the body or not. Mr. Fan's wife and mother-in-law insisted that they would see Mr. Fan's body the next day and would not allow his body to be cremated. Mr. Fan's mother was worried that she would only be allowed to see her son's ashes, she agreed to view the body that night. Mr. Fan's parents and the oldest brother went to see the body, along with many friends.

On April 21st, 2008, Mr. Fan's wife and family went to the Suizhong Detention Centre to see his body. At 1:20 p.m., the family was taken to the cremation site. Approximately 60 people were waiting there, and the majority of them were plain clothes police. Relatives were required to wait at the lounge under close supervision of the plain clothes police. The family was told by one of the police that they conducted an investigation and knew the cause of death, but would not say. The family was also told that autopsy was performed and cremation would begin at 2:00 p.m. He said that the family had already seen the body.

Mr. Fan's wife protested loudly, "We did not even see the body and we do not even know the reason of death. How dare you perform cremation!" The response by the police was that this was a special case. He said that they already requested and got an answer from the director from the Province Police Department. He said that if there was a problem, the family could seek help from Civil Affairs Department. The relatives said that it was their right of to investigate the cause of the death and would seek an attorney and have the forensic doctor perform the autopsy. They also requested a high ranking officer, but one claimed that he was the deputy director of the police department Gu (given name unknown) and said that they were not the policy makers but the executors.

Mr. Fan's family argued that the body could not be cremated without the family's permission and that Wang Xueping, director of the Suizhong County Detention Centre, shirked his responsibility. Mr. Fan's wife said that he should take the responsibility for her husband's death. The police wanted to destroy the body and incriminating evidence as soon as possible, and then urged family to visit the body, otherwise it would be cremated. The family said firmly they would not allow the cremation, even if they could not see the body. Without the permission of Mr. Fan's family, the director of the Suizhong Police Department ordered that the body be cremated. During the process of cremation, family members were not allowed to leave the lounge and were required to wait to get the ashes. Mr. Fan's family received his ashes but were never allowed to see his body.

Administrators of the Suizhong County Detention Centre are responsible for Mr. Fan Fan's death.